

I 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
<^. ^154 * 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



TRIBUTE 

TO THE 

MEMORY 

OF 

Late Health Commissioner of the City of New-York, &c. 

BEING A DISCOURSE PRONOUNCED 

BY HIS FRIEND 

HENRY WILLIAM DUCACHET, M. D. 

On Monday, January 6th, 1823, 
By Order of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of New-York. 

AND PUBLISHED BT THEIR REQ.UEST. 



69 MEW - YORK .- 

PRINTED BY T. AND J. SWORDS, 

No. 99 Pearl-street. 

1823. 



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At a stated meeting of the Medico-Chirurgical 
Society of the State of New- York, held at the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, on Saturday, December 7, 
1822, the following preamble and resolutions were una- 
nimously adopted: — 

Whereas the Society have received the painful intel- 
ligence of the death of their esteemed associate Jacob 
Dyckman, M. D. 

Resolved, That a respectful notice of his decease be 
recorded upon the minutes; and that the members of 
the Society be requested to wear the usual badge of 
mourning during thirty days. 

Resolved. That a discourse, commemorative of his 
distinguished worth, be pronounced by a member of 
this body; and that Henry William Ducachet, M. D. 
be requested to perform this duty. 

Resolved, That in token of our high respect for the 
memory of our deceased fellow-member, the proceed- 
ings of this meeting be suspended, and the Society ad- 
journed. 

Further resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be 
published in two of the daily papers of this city, and 
in one of the public papers of the county of Westches- 
ter; and further, that they be attested by the signatures 
of the President and Secretary. 

JOHN W. FRANCIS, M. D. President. 
G. M. Richards, Secretary. 



New-York, January 14th, 1823. 
Dear Sir, 

We have been appointed a committee 
of the Medico- Chirurgical Society, to return to 
you their thanks for the able and eloquent manner in 
which you discharged the duty assigned you ; and 
to request that you will further comply with their 
wishes, by furnishing to us the manuscript of your 
Eulogium of Dr. Dyckman for publication. 
Please accept the assurances of our respect, and of 
the high consideration with which we remain, 

Dear Sir, 

Your obedient Servants, 

F. G. KING, ^ 

G. M. RICHARDS, ( Committee. 
J. W. VETHAKE, ) 

Henry W. Ducachet, M. D. 

To Messrs. F. G. King, J) 

G. M. Richards, > Committee, &c. 

J. W. Vethake, ) 

New-York, January 14th, 1823. 
Gentlemen, 

I have received the note in which 
you so politely inform me of the resolutions of the 
Medico-Chirurgical Society, respecting the Eulogy 
of Dr. Dyckman. Although it was written very 



C 6 ) 

hastily, and without any idea that the Society would 
consider it worthy of publication, I cheerfully 
comply with your request. Trusting that it will 
meet with the indulgence which the repeated evi- 
dences it exhibits of hurry and immaturity are 
calculated to secure, I shall, as soon as I shall have 
made a few corrections in the manuscript, deliver it 
into your hands. 

You will please assure the Society of 
my sensibility to the honour they have been pleased 
to confer upon me ; and accept for yourselves indi- 
vidually the assurances of my personal considera- 
tion and regard. 

Gentlemen, 

I am respectfully, 

Your obedient Servant, 
HENRY W. DUCACHET. 



PREFACE. 



ALTHOUGH the following Discourse was writ- 
ten in the short space of a few hours, and without 
any view to its publication, I knew not how to re- 
fuse the request of the Society. I am very sensible 
that it cannot bear the scrutiny of the critic, how- 
ever kindly disposed he might be to overlook its 
faults. The haste in which it was written may be 
a reasonable apology for the imperfections of a dis- 
course at the time of its delivery, and yet may not, 
perhaps, be received as a valid excuse for its defici- 
encies when printed. I shall not, therefore, bespeak 
indulgence on that account, as it may very justly 
be replied, that it might have been improved and 
corrected for the press. 

It would be an affectation of humility in me to 
say, that I am not deeply sensible of the honour 
done me by the Society in requesting a copy of the 
Discourse for publication. I confess, I consider it 
a high honour, and that their resolutions have had 
very considerable influence in determining me to 
publish it. Yet, I hope it will not be considered 



( 8 ) 

as a slight to the members of that respectable body 
to declare, that my principal design in printing this 
Discourse, is to contradict the unaccountable mis- 
representations of it which are circulated to my 
injury, and to the discredit of the memory of my 
departed friend. Personal allusions have been found 
where none were intended ; and in several instances 
my remarks have been misapplied. In justice to 
myself, therefore, it is proper, perhaps, that it should 
be published; and, in fairness, it ought to be printed 
as it was delivered. With a few unimportant verbal 
alterations, I submit it to public perusal, exactly as 
it was originally written ; hoping that in this expla- 
nation a sufficient apology will be found for my ap- 
parent temerity in publishing it with all its imper- 
fections. 



ADDRESS. 



GrENTLEMEN OF THE SOCIETY, 

DEATH is a monster which appals the stout- 
est hearts. The soldier, fearless of the battle, 
and emulous of danger, trembles at his ap- 
proach. The poor, dejected outcast of fortune, 
who has lived a life of indigence and penury, 
who is deprived of every comfort which renders 
life desirable, and stripped of every hope of 
improving his condition, is still unwilling to 
part with the burden which oppresses him, and 
to bury his sorrows with himself in the grave. 
The wretched victim of disease, who spends 
his days and nights in complaints and groans, 
and calls upon death to relieve him of his pain ; 
even he prefers the lingering of torture to the 
repose of the grave, and is reluctant to resign 
that life which is agonized by the very inspira- 
tions that prolong it. It is indeed no wonder 
that the man who has lived a life which his 
conscience condemns, and has no ground of 
consolation in death, should be dismayed in 

2 



( 10 ) 

that appalling hour. If he looks back, a long 
life spent in sins which are soon to appear as 
swift witnesses against him, strikes terror into 
his soul : if he dare look forward, the grave, the 
bar of judgment, and the regions of despair, 
appear in terrific plainness to his view : he is 
even afraid to look up for mercy, for his eyes 
must meet the countenance of that God whom 
he has offended, and who is soon to sit in judg- 
ment upon hrs soul. He knows that he must 
shortly close his eyes upon the world in despair; 
that as he passes through the dark valley of the 
shadow of death, the ghosts of his former sins 
will encounter him at every step ; and that per-* 
haps the unhappy spirits of the former compa- 
nions of his guilt will meet him, to apprize him 
of the terrors and the torments which await 
him. It is then no Wonder that he should be 
afraid to die. But evert the good man, who 
has no such terrors to alarm him ; who, invigor- 
ated by faith, looks a?t death as the termination 
of all his anxieties and eares, and as the har- 
binger of a more glorious and happy life, where 
the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary 
are at rest ; even he feels an instinctive abhor- 
rence of dissolution. But what is it makes 
death so unwelcome and terrific ? The dread 
uncertainty of the untried scenes to which he is 
soon to be introduced, the consciousness of be- 
ing unprepared for the scrutiny he must under- 



( 11 ) 

go, and the tremendous retribution he is to re- 
ceive, are all calculated to fill a man with hor- 
ror at the view of death. But all men are not 
so philosophical as, in their dying moments, to 
enter into speculations about the unknown re- 
gions which their disembodied spirits are to in- 
habit; all men have not even so much sense of 
religion as to think of the tremendous judgment 
to which death is to introduce them ; and some 
can contemplate this awful event with comfort 
and with hope : yet^ all men are afraid to die, 
or, at least, feel some abhorrence at the thought. 
There must fc>e, thqn, some instinctive principle, 
which, apart from all reflections upon the conse- 
quences of death, operates universally upon the 
minds of men, and makes them sorrowful at this 
dread event. But what is it? It is the dreadful 
thought of being forgotten ! Eternal oblivion 
has terrors for the mind, which make it prefer 
the pains apd languishing of sickness, the sad 
reverses of fortune, and all the accumulated 
troubles of life, to the dread event which wilt 
terminate them all. To be forgotten in death 
by those who knew and loved us in life — O, it 
is a thought at which the mind revolts. All 
men are conscious of this feeling ; and nature, 
in kind indulgence to the weakness, has im- 
planted in our breasts a sympathy which makes 
us gather around the couch of the dying, and 
assure them by our tears that they shall not be 



( 12 ) 

forgotten. The funeral customs o r all nations 
have arisen from this principle. It is this whicty 
kindles the funeral pile, and preserves the be- 
loved ashes of the venerated clead ; it is this 
\vhich furnishes the cosily spices amj the rich 
perfumes, to preserve from destruction the form 
which we have loved ; it is this which collects 
the sympathizing company at the obsequies of 
the dead, and chants the solemn requiem ; it is 
this which erects the stately mausoleum, plants 
the humble head-stone, $ncl speaks the praises 
of cjeparted worth ; it is this, my friends, which 
has assembled us to-day, I)eath has come in 
anions us, and snatched away from oin- midst 
one whom we loved, and whom we cannot be 
persuaded tp forget. We have assembled to 
pay the becoming tribute of respect to his me- 
mory, and to commemorate his worth. Im- 
pressed with the solemnity pf the occasion, an^ 
conscious of my inadequacy tp the task assigne4 
me, nothing could have induced me to accept 
it but your positive command. The ch^racte^ 
of my deceased friend does indeed deserve a 
eulogy ; (neyer shall my heart cease to feel th$ 
throb of friendship, pr my tongue to speak his 
praises;) but I could wish that his virtues and* 
his worth had beep celebrated on this occasion 
by some more competent eulogist. But confi- 
dent that the outlines of such a character as his, 
however rudely or imperfectly sketched, cannot 



( 13 ) 

laii to excite your admiration, and that ! have 
nothing to apprehend from that censorious spirit 
which would criticise with severity the hasty 
effusion of friendship, I proceed to the affecting 
duty which you have assigned me. 

Jacob Dvckman was born of highly respect- 
able parentage, at Yonkers, Westchester coun- 
ty, in the state of New- York, on the first of 
December, 1788. His early years, spent as 
they were in the retirement and obscurity of the 
country, furnish no remarkable incidents for the 
narrative of the biographer. Yet it can hardly 
be supposed that a mind such as his did not 
develop some prominent feature, even in the 
days of his childhood; and especially as he was 
always the subject of praise among his ac- 
quaintance, and of ambitious hope among his 
friends. Without possessing that vivacity of 
spirits, or that sprightliness of remark, which 
are frequently the indications of infant genius, 
there is said to have been something peculiar 
in his deportment, and pointed in his conversa- 
tion, which, at a very early period, excited in 
the bosoms of his friends a hope that he was 
destined to be no ordinary man. Accordingly 
he was sent to the city, to be prepared for his 
entrance into college. After receiving a very 
complete and solid preparation at a grammar- 
school, he was admitted into Columbia College 
in the year 1806. Although he did not possess 



( H ) 

that flippancy which often passes for brilliancy 
of parts, and obtains for a young man a rank 
above his fellows who are in reality possessed 
of more capacity and solidity of mind, he main- 
tained, during the whole period of his collegi- 
ate studies, a highly respectable station in his 
class. There was not in him $ny of that frivo- 
lity of character which leads young men to en- 
gage in the fashionable amusements of life ; 
and he was too strongly fortified by principle to 
be led into dissipation It is no wonder, then, 
that he should surpass many of his collegiate 
associates, who trifled away the time which he 
devoted to study, in the pursuits of pleasure or 
the haunts of dissipation. He graduated in 
the year 1810, after passing through all the 
classes of that excellent institution. The study 
of medicine presented itself to him with pecu- 
liar attractions* Indeed the choice was a very 
natural one for him ; as the profession of medi- 
cine affords an extensive field for the exercise 
of those benevolent dispositions which he pos- 
sessed in so eminent a degree, without expos- 
ing one to the anxieties and turmoils of public 
life, or requiring many sacrifices of that diffi- 
dence which formed so prominent a feature in 
his character. 

Shortly after his graduation in the arts, he 
commenced the study of medicine under the 
pupilage of Dr. Hosacjc. I need hardly tejl 



( 15 ) 

you of his character as a student : there is an 
almost infallible connexion between distinction 
in life and diligence in the term of pupilage. 
Seldom, very seldom does it happen that an 
indolent student, or a conceited coxcomb, who 
imagines that he has natural talents sufficient 
to supersede the necessity of industry, becomes 
a distinguished, or even respectable, physician. 
A man's professional character is generally de- 
termined by the habits he acquires in the office 
of his preceptor; and should such a one as I 
have just described succeed in life, so as to ac- 
quire any degree of repute, he is regarded by 
the discerning portion of the community only 
as the despicable creature of artifice, or as the 
spoiled brat of chance. But very seldom in- 
deed does it occur, notwithstanding the preca- 
riousness and inconstancy of medical reputa- 
tion, that a diligent student does not become a 
skilful and celebrated practitioner. 1 can well 
remember the impression that was produced 
upon my mind when 1 first entered the office of 
Dr. Hosack, upon hearing the character uni- 
versally ascribed to Dr. Dyckman. He was held 
up as a pattern of diligence in his studies, of 
propriety in his deportment in the office, and 
as an example in all respects worthy of imita- 
tion.. From the character he then held, every 
one augured his future usefulness and distinc- 
tion. In the spring of 1813 he received the ho 



C 16 ) 

uours of the doctorate, in one of the early classes 
that were graduated in the newly organized 
College of Physicians and Surgeons. On his 
public examination, he presented and defended 
an Inaugural Thesis on the Pathology of the 
Human Fluids; a production which, afterwards 
revised and enlarged, laid the foundation of his 
professional fame, and is destined to be remem- 
bered as a work of standard excellence on the 
subject of which it treats* 

Immediately after his graduation he was ap- 
pointed one of the Physicians of the City Dis- 
pensary, a situation which, at that time, was 
not to be obtained by the influence of family 
connexions, or by acquiescence in a contract- 
ed and mercenary policy. Dr. Dyckman was 
then an obscure young man, without friends 
to urge his claims, or to exert their influence in 
his behalf. He continued to discharge the ar- 
duous duties of this charity for several years ; 
and at last resigned his situation, partly, as 
he told me, through disgust at the conduct 
which he witnessed in the institution, and partly 
in consequence of increased demands upon 
his time by the duties of a more important of- 
fice. The literary labours in which he was en- 
gaged at this period, I shall at present omit to 
mention, as they will hereafter be noticed in 
detail. It must suffice to remark here, that 
amidst the almost incessant occupation of hip 



( 17 ) 

time by the duties of the Dispensary, he still 
found leisure for study, and for authorship. It 
is often wondered at that physicians, whose time 
is so constantly employed, and whose leisure, 
one would suppose, was rendered unfit for study 
by the fatigues and labours of professional duty, 
should find time enough to become authors. 
However paradoxical it may appear, it is a re- 
markable fact, that the most voluminous writers 
on the science of medicine have generally been 
men of great and extensive practice, who have 
been forced to snatch their opportunities for 
writing in the hurried intervals of business. 
Whether they thus seek relief from the incessant 
anxieties to which the occurrences of business 
and the scenes of practice expose them, or 
whether it be the result of some inexplicable 
anomaly of the mind; it is a fact attested by 
the history of almost every celebrated medical 
author. 

In the year 1819 Dr. Dyckman was appointed 
the Surgeon of the New-York Aims-House. 
This charity, although extensive in its character, 
presents, in consequence of its location beyond 
the limits of the city, and the peculiar descrip- 
tion of the objects of its bounty, a very limited 
field for the cultivation or display of surgical 
dexterity. During Dr. Dyckmaxn's attendance, 
however, several great and important cases oc- 
curred in the institution, which gave him an 

3 



( 18 ) 

opportunity of exhibiting that versatility of ta* 
lent, which can familiarize itself to the knife 
without an exclusive attention to operative sur- 
gery. From the judgment and deliberation 
with which he conducted his operations, and 
the prudent dexterity which he exhibited in 
their performance, there is good reason to be* 
lieve, that when experience had given him a 
necessary confidence, and matured the dexter- 
ous talent he possessed, he would have become 
a highly respectable and skilful surgeon. I say 
a surgeon, not supposing that he would have 
contented himself with the mere mechanical 
adroitness of an operator. He had more libe- 
ral views of his profession than to satisfy his 
mind with so grovelling an ambition. He knew 
that expertness in the use of the knife may, by 
mere dint of practice, be acquired by any one 
not unconquerably stupid ; and that many a 
man, who was intended by nature for nothing 
more than a clever mechanic, but who has by 
an unfortunate error loci become a member of a 
liberal profession, may make a figure in the 
theatre of a hospital.* 

* No prejudices are more illiberal, or more deserving* of repre- 
hension, than those which are sometimes cherished by members of 
the same profession against each other, in consequence of their de- 
voting themselves to different branches of the science. I hope, 
therefore, that I shall not be suspected of indulging any pitiful 
animosity against those who have chosen surgery as the department 
best suited to their talents. I consider an enlightened surgeon te 



f i 



C 19 ) 

In the year 1821* Dr. Dyckman was appoint- 
ed to the office of Health Commissioner. This 

be quite as respectable as a physician ; and intend my remarks to 
apply to those only who think that surgery consists merely in am- 
putating- limbs, taking up arteries, &c. and hence practise it, not 
as a liberal profession, but as a mechanical trade. At the same time, 
I am free to confess it as my opinion, that surgeons generally are 
too apt to undervalue study, and to attach an unmerited importance 
to incessant and minute dissection as the only means of acquiring 
manual dexterity in operating. I believe that a student ef medicine 
can be much more profitably employed than in the charnal-house ; 
and that if he spends his -whole pupilage in dissecting, he will be 
no better qualified to practise surgery at the completion of his term, 
than he was at its commencement. And, after all, to perform the 
highest operation of surgery, does not require one half the intel- 
lectual effort that is necessary for the judicious, speedy, and suc- 
cessful treatment of a fever, or a pleurisy. 

* The haste with which the Discourse was written caused me to 
forget several of the most honourable incidents in the life of Dr 
Dtckman, which should have been inserted here. In the year 1819 
he was commissioned by the Board of Health of New-York to pro- 
ceed to Philadelphia, for the purpose of investigating the nature 
and origin of a pestilential fever which prevailed in a section of that 
city. He discharged this important duty with so much manly in- 
dependence, so much professional discretion, and so much satisfac- 
tion to the public, that he was sent upon a similar mission to Phi- 
ladelphia in the succeeding year. In the year 1821 he was elected 
Recording Secretary of the New-York Literary and Philosophical 
Society, an office which he held to the day of his death, with uni- 
versal satisfaction to the members of that body. Nothing can show, 
in a more convincing manner, the estimation in which he was held 
by that learned society, than the fact, that a special committee has» 
by their unanimous resolution, been appointed to prepare a biogra- 
phical memoir of him for publication in the next volume of their 
Transactions. The respectability of the committee charged with 
this duty, is an additional honour to his memory. In 1822, in spite 
of the intrigues which were used for a host of others, he was ap- 
pointed by the honourable the Regents of the University, a Trustee 
of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. 



( 20 ) 

situation, as every other in the government, is 
generally conferred upon those who have most 
signalized themselves by a zealous devotion to 
the interests of the dominant party. Much as 
it is to be regretted that political considerations 
so often outweigh the claims of merit, the evil 
perhaps can hardly be avoided in a government 
like ours. Gentlemen, 1 retract the supposition. 
The evil can be, ought to be, avoided. Were 
our rulers governed by a higher and more ho- 
nourable policy, than that of rewarding, by 
public favour, the sycophancy of their parasites 
and the clamorous importunity of their political 
adherents, we should no longer see men desti- 
tute of education, of talents, and of character, 
who have neither professional merit nor public 
confidence, preferred, on mere political consi- 
derations, to men who are the ornaments of the 
profession, and who would dignify any official 
station ; we should no longer witness the triumph 
of persons of the very lowest professional stand- 
ing, and experience the mortification of seeing 
men of distinguished abilities and worth, retiring 
from the inglorious competition, and contenting 
themselves with obscurity and neglect; we 
should not, as recently, have been shocked 
with the unfeeling rapacity of the despicable 
herd who, before the body of our departed 
friend had been deposited in the grave, were 
devising the means of succeeding to his office* 



( 21 ) 

Pardon, Gentlemen, the warmth of wounded 
friendship — but I desist from a development 
which would disgust and exasperate you.* 

It does not always happen, however, that 
even the rancorous leaders of a party are so far 
infatuated by political partialities, as to confer 
offices of high responsibility upon the most cla- 
morous individuals of the faction. It will some- 
times happen, even amidst the turmoils and 
contentions of a nomination caucus, that mo- 
dest merit will attract attention. Dr. Dyckman, 
firm and unwavering as he was in his political 
opinions, and valuing as he did the interests of 
the party to which he was attached, was not 
boisterous in proclaiming his sentiments, not 
bitter in denouncing his political opponents, not 
violent enough to be considered as a member 
deserving the rewards or the notice of the party. 
I know not what influence may have been ex- 



• The very same reasons which induced me to suppress the dis- 
graceful transactions here alluded to at the time the Discourse was 
delivered, prevent me from disclosing them now. I cannot, how- 
ever, but state, as an apology for the severity with which I have 
expressed myself, that attempts were made to supplant him during 
his last illness, when he was unable to vindicate himself from the 
insinuations which were circulated to his discredit, with the view 
of causing his removal. I have no objections to any honourable 
exertion to obtain an office, but I abhor all mean and disgraceful 
tricks to effect any end whatever, and feel myself called upon by 
the occasion to denounce the infamous proceedings that were lately 
had recourse to, by certain men, to procure the office of Health 
Commissioner. 



( 22 ) 

erted in his favour by his political and personal 
friends ; but knowing, as I do, that he was pre- 
ferred before some whose political influence 
was far greater than his, and whose friends were 
more numerous and importunate than any he 
possessed, I have always considered his ap- 
pointment as the reward of merit. 

By his appointment as Health Commissioner, 
he became, ex officio, a member of the Board 
of Health. It is principally in seasons of pes- 
tilence that a member of that body has any 
opportunity of signalizing himself as a public 
officer. No sooner had the epidemic which 
lately desolated the fairest portion of our city, 
made its appearance, than the profession, the 
board, and the public, looked to Dr. Dyckman 
as their principal counsellor. His medical asso- 
ciate in the commission of health, by an unfor- 
tunate inadvertence which the most experi- 
enced might have committed, or, perhaps, 
through the mischievous insinuations of jealousy 
and malice, lost, in a great measure, the con- 
fidence of the public. Dr. Dyckman at this 
time was labouring under a severe indisposition; 
yet, feeling the importance of his station, and 
animated by a sense of duty, he scorned t© 
evade by flight the responsibilities and the dan- 
gers of his office. Contrary to the remonstrances 
of his friends, he determined to remain in the 
city, and for some weeks spent his time alter- 



( 23 ) 

nately in his bed and at the sittings of the Board 
of Health. His feeble constitution, already un- 
dermined by a strong predisposition to pulmo- 
nary disease, could not support the anxieties of 
his mind, and his unusual bodily exertions at 
this period of terror and dismay. He was shortly 
compelled to request permission of the Board 
to retire into the country to recruit his health. 
He proceeded to the residence of his father, at 
King's-Bridge — never to return. After lingering 
for several weeks, exhausted by the hectic and 
the cough of consumption, he died on Thurs- 
day, the 5th of December last, with the com- 
posure and the triumph of a Christian. 

It is impossible to contemplate the character 
of Dr. Dyckman without feelings of respect, 
and even emotions of admiration. 

As a physician, he was versed in the scien- 
tific departments of his profession, not content- 
ing himself with mere elementary knowledge, 
but ambitious of becoming familiar with the 
great masters of the art. He delighted in his 
books, and justly merited the character of a 
well-read physician. But he was not a mere 
speculative man, versed in the doctrines of 
the schools, and unskilled in their practical 
application. It was in his admirable practical 
sagacity that his great merit consisted. Not 
possessing naturally a remarkable quickness of 
perception, he seemed to have oftentimes an 



( 24 ) 

intuitive discernment, which enabled him ta 
discover, without the least apparent difficulty, 
the nature and seat of the case before him. I 
have often been surprised, while accompanying 
him in his visits, that a man so deliberate and 
prudent even in the ordinary conversation of 
life, should be able to arrive at so speedy a 
judgment in a professional case as he frequently 
exhibited. In his practice he was equally suc- 
cessful : judicious in the choice of his remedies, 
he was quick in his decisions, and vigorous in 
their application. 

The success of his practice is the best eulogy 
that can be pronounced upon his professional 
skill. I have often heard him speak of it as one 
of the most delightful contemplations of his 
life, (and indeed have had constant opportuni- 
ties of verifying his assertions by personal know- 
ledge,) that of the numerous cases of disease 
which presented themselves in the practice of 
the Dispensary, where a physician necessarily 
prescribes under many disadvantages, he lost so 
very few patients. It is no inconclusive evi- 
dence of a physician's skill, that he should not 
lose more than two or three patients out of the 
hundreds that annually fall under his care, 
whose constitutions are broken down by the 
accumulated miseries of poverty and compli- 
cated disease, and who cannot procure even 
those comforts of life which are indispensable 



( 25 ) 

'to the efficient operation of medicines,* Gen- 
tlemen, I do indeed hold to the maxim, de 
mortuis nil nisi bonum. I think it contains a ten- 
derness of sentiment which every honourable 
mind must feel to be congenial. But I do not 
stand before you to praise the dead at the ex- 
pense of truth ; to flatter the vanity of surviv- 
ing relatives ; or even to indulge the feelings of 
personal affection, which might prompt a higher 
eulogy of my departed friend than he justly de- 
serves. 1 appeal to those of you who knew 
him, whether I speak the language of extrava- 
gance in saying, that he was one of the first 
practical physicians of his age in our city. 

• The success of medical treatment in the City Dispensary, con- 
sidering- the circumstances of the patients generally prescribed for 
at that institution, is unparalleled, I believe, in the history of pub- 
lic charities. During" the last year only 54 have died out of 6961, 
who have been the subjects of prescription. This fact, while it 
does great credit to the skill and faithfulness of the physicians of 
that establishment, should arrest the attention of the community, 
and secure to it a permanent and liberal support. It is to be re- 
gretted, that while schemes for the accomplishment of remote and 
uncertain good command the liberality of our citizens to an almost 
incredible amount, this invaluable institution, in which every indi- 
vidual in the community is, in some manner, interested, and the 
benefits of which are seen and felt by all, should be suffered to 
languish, for want of patronage. On a recent occasion, an appeal 
from an establishment obviously instituted, under the lure of a 
specious but doubtful charity, for the advancement and emolument 
of certain individuals, was met with a promptitude and munificence 
worthy of a nobler object ; but the claims of the Dispensary, strong 
as they are upon the benevolence of the community, are coropara- 
tively disregarded. 

4 



( 26 } 

But Dr. Dyckman was not the mere physi- 
cian. He possessed a noble expansion of soul, 
which would not permit him to confine himself 
to the routine of practice. He has justly attained 
no humble character as an author. I claim not 
for him, indeed, the veneration that is due to 
exalted genius, but the more enviable praise of 
being a useful and a practical writer. His style 
was by no means splendid or ambitious, but 
neat, perspicuous, and simple. 

His first literary effort, u An Inaugural Dis- 
sertation on the Pathology of the Human 
Fluids," would have done honour to the pen of 
an older and more experienced writer. Time 
would not permit, nor would the occasion allow 
me to enter into a review of this excellent pro- 
duction, or into a defence of the humoral pa- 
thology. I cannot, however, refrain from ob- 
serving, (although, perhaps, I ought to be more 
diffident in speaking of subjects which belong 
to a profession no longer my own,) that 1 have 
always considered the present fashionable cla- 
mour against the humoral pathology, as absurd 
and ridiculous in the extreme. I confess 1 can 
see no reason why the fluids, or any other part 
of the living system, should be exempt from 
disease. 1 believe that there are many disor- 
ders, the symptoms of which are wholly unac- 
countable, unless ascribed to humoral impuri- 
ties; and many which cannot be cured but by 



( 27 ) 

directing the remedies to the fluids. Physicians 
are too much in the habit, in the present day, 
of overlooking the vast and powerful agency of 
the fluids in the animal economy ; and of ascrib- 
ing all its operations, morbid as well as natural, 
to the action of the solids. They are continu- 
ally talking about healthy action, deranged ac- 
tion, morbid action, peculiar action, sympa- 
thetic action, irregular action, &c. Action has 
been said to be the first, and the second, and 
the third, and the last requisite of an orator: 
and so, it seems, action is to be every thing in 
pathology too. But I desist. — The majority of 
those who hear me are well acquainted with 
the discordant theories of the solidists aud the 
humoralists. Suffice it to state, that Dr. Dyck- 
man's Inaugural Thesis is a defence of the hu- 
moral pathology in the modified form in which 
it is taught, and has for years been taught, by 
the distinguished Professor of the Practice of 
Physic in this University. Dr. Dyckman, as I 
have before said, was his pupil ; and fired with 
the zeal of his preceptor, he boldly stepped for- 
ward in the vindication of truth, at a time when 
it could only be expected to draw down upon 
him the ridicule and the condemnation of the 
faculty. The doctrine is defended, however, 
with acknowledged dexterity; and explained 
with a readiness and ingenuity which show him 
to have been familiar with his subject. In the 



( 28 ) 

judgment of the avowed opponents of the theory 
it espouses, it displays more recondite research, 
more dexterity of statement, more ingenuity of 
argument, more plausibility of style and man- 
ner, than almost any other production of the 
kind.* 

Dr. Ho sack is so intimately associated with 
every thing relating to this subject, from his 
having been the first to revive the doctrines of 
the Boerhaavian school, that I would be guilty 
of a palpable injustice, were I to withhold from 
him the praise which is his due, for his early, and 
constant, and able, and successful inculcation 
of the Humoral Pathology. At a time when 
the fascinating theory of Brown became the 
prevailing doctrine of our schools, and the elo- 
quence of Rush threatened to entail upon our 
country the follies of that brilliant but delusive 
system, Dr. Hosack stood forth the advocate of 
the Humoral Pathology. With a judgment 
singularly happy, he divested it of many 
inconsistencies and absurdities which had ren- 
dered it offensive; and demonstrated its truth 
by the practical efficacy of its principles and 
precepts. By the application of these in a great 
and extensive charity, he has commanded the 
acquiescence of admiring crowds of pupils, 
gained a popularity and reputation as a teacher 

* See Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, 
vol. iv. p. 370. 



( 29 ) 

which are not soon to perish, and justly merited 
the title of the American Boerhaave. 

I could not with propriety detain you with an 
extended notice of Dr. Dyckman's remaining 
productions It must suffice to state, that his 
improved edition of Duncan's Dispensatory, 
published in the year 1818, is by far the best and 
most useful work upon that subject His 
monthly reports of the diseases occurring in the 
City Dispensary, published originally in the 
Monthly Magazine, and afterwards in the Lite- 
rary Journal, evince a talent for close observa- 
tion, and a judgment in recording facts, which 
would not dishonour the masterly reports of 
Drs. Willan and Bateman. 

Several fugitive productions of his pen are 
preserved in the periodical journals of our coun- 
try ; the most remarkable of which are, an 
Essay upon Adipocyte, published in the Trans- 
actions of the New- York Lyceum of Natural 
History ; and an anomalous case of Surgery 
which fell under his care. 

When we consider the successful manner in 
which Dr. Dyckman acquitted himself on the 
several occasions when he appeared before the 
public as an author, we cannot but regret that 
he should have been prevented, by death, from 
accomplishing a plan which he had long enter- 
tained, of editing Dr. Bateman's admirable 
work on the Cutanei, with notes and improve- 



( 30 ) 

ments. He had studied cutaneous diseases 
with great minuteness of attention, with this 
special view; and it is owing perhaps to his ex- 
cellent practical acquaintance with this obscure 
and intricate subject, making him distrustful of 
himself on account of the complicated difficul- 
ties which he knew so well, that we have now 
to lament that this task was never undertaken. 
He had long had in contemplation a work upon 
the vegetable Materia Medica of the United 
States, and had made very considerable pro- 
gress in the collection of materials towards it 
He, however, had resolved that it should be, 
as it ought to be, the labour of years. Man 
proposes, but God disposes. Death suddenly 
interrupted his labours, and leaves us another 
instance of the uncertainty of human plans, 
and the vanity of human hopes.* 

* He has left unfinished an Essay on Apparitions, the design of 
which is to refer to a morbid condition of the sensorium, the sup- 
posed supernatural visions of which we have so many strange ac- 
counts. This paper is very comprehensive in its plan ; and, as he 
had, for some time, made it a subject of study and reflection, there 
is no doubt it would have been very interesting. Whether this 
theory is or is not the true one, or whether, as is most probable, 
there is something unaccountably mysterious in many of these ap- 
pearances, it is certain that they cannot satisfactorily be resolved 
into the effects of mere superstition. The theory espoused by Dr. 
Dtckmas will, no doubt, explain most of these cases ; perhaps his 
ingenuity would have shown its complete application to them all. 
He was also about to prepare for publication a paper on the use of 
emetics in convulsive and spasmodic diseases. He had used them 
very extensively in these cases ; and informed me that he had found 



C 31 ) 

In contemplating the character of Dr. Dyck- 
jkan as a literary man, and as an author, it is 
proper to notice his connexion as one of the 
editors of the New- York Medical and Physical 
Journal He had long conversed, in the confi- 
dence of friendship, with a few of his profes- 
sional intimates, on the subject of commencing 
a new periodical work in this city, devoted to 
the cultivation and diffusion of medical science. 
He regretted that this extensive metropolis, 
containing so large a number of physicians, and 
so strong a body of medical talent, could not 
boast of a single respectable medical journal.* 
These repeated suggestions were finally matur- 

them speedily to resolve the most obstinate and alarming convul- 
sions. It is really to be regretted, that his experience on this in- 
teresting subject should have been lost to the public. It is but 
justice that I should state, that Dr. Joseph M. Smith, of this city, 
is entitled to the merit of having revived the attention of the pro- 
fession to the efficacy of emetics in these cases. An excellent pa- 
per on this subject, marked by an enviable experimental talent, and 
presenting the results of an extensive experience, was published by 
this gentleman some years ago, in the first volume of the Transac- 
tions of the Physico-Medical Society of New-York. 

* There was indeed a medical journal still in existence at this 
time, but it had degenerated so far from its former character, 
that it could no longer be considered as any thing but the mere 
ghost of the work which had immortalized the names of Mills* 
and of Mi re hill Instead of the youthful vigour for which it was 
distinguished in the days of those able editors, it was now remark- 
able only for feebleness, and petulance, and decrepitude, the natu- 
ral concomitants of a premature old age induced by inanition and 
intemperance. It is how happily entirely defunct. Its death would 
have been juat matter of congratulation to the profession years 
ago. 



C 52 ) 

ed into a plan, and gave rise to the New- York 
Medical and Physical Journal. Dr. Dyckman 
zealously entered into the enlightened and lofty 
views of the spirited gentlemen who projected 
this work; and was proud to associate his name 
as an editor with the names of men, who, though 
only commencing life, had justly acquired a 
character for talents, and a literary reputation, 
of which veteran cultivators of science might 
have been ambitious. Under the auspices of 
this able trio, the New- York Medical and Phy- 
sical Journal had attained its fourth number,-— 
triumphing over difficulties which threatened 
to destroy it, and which would have discourag- 
ed men less fitted for the task; pursuing a li- 
beral, yet independent policy, which recom- 
mended it to the patronage and support of the 
united profession ; and promising to surpass, 
in celebrity and usefulness, every similar pro- 
duction in our country. Judge of the loss k 
sustains in the death of Dr Dyckman.* 

Respectable as he was as a professional and 
literary man, it is in his personal and private 
character that he appears to highest advantage. 
Professional distinction and literary reputation 
may be attained by men unamiable in the in- 



* The surviving editors are John W. Francis, M. D. Professor 
of Obstetrics in the University of New-York, and John B. Beck, 
M. D. Fellow of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. 



( 33 ) 

tercourse of life, and not entitled to the least 
respect on account of their deportment or their 
virtues. But never was an individual more 
truly amiable than was Dr. Dyckman in his pri- 
vate virtues and manners. Among those who 
knew him, 1 think 1 may truly say, his suavity 
of disposition became almost proverbial : and 
by those who were comparatively strangers, 
this much at least of him was known, that he 
was a man of the most remarkable urbanity of 
character. Seldom in my long and familiar 
intercourse with him, have I ever seen his pla- 
cid temper disturbed by the little irritating 
incidents which daily occur to every man. He 
seemed to regard them as unworthy of an emo- 
tion. Nor did this amiableness proceed from 
an absence of the delicate sensibilities of an 
honourable mind. No man was ever more 
sensitive to an indignity. And although I have 
never known him to indulge for a moment the 
predominance of angry feelings in his bosom, 
I have seen the glow of lofty indignation mantle 
upon his cheek, and have witnessed the gener- 
ous burst of feeling, when his honour has been 
wounded, the character of a friend assailed, or 
the principles which he cherished wantonly im- 
pugned. The most of those who hear me are 
well acquainted with the fact, that notwith- 
standing Dr. Dyckman's remarkable amiable- 
ness of character, it was frequently his misfor- 

5 



( 34 ) 

tune to be involved in controversy. A stranger 
to that disputatious temper which is ever ready 
to seek occasions for debate, his very arniable- 
ness brought him into contests. There are 
men who, with all their eagerness for contro- 
versy, are loath to encounter antagonists of 
any sturdiness of temper; and seek to provoke 
to opposition men whose mildness of character 
affords some probability of a defeat by means 
of rude and impetuous assaults. It was his mis- 
fortune to be assailed by several such men. 
And although his amiable disposition could not 
be persuaded to proceed with deserved severity 
against the wanton disturbers of his character 
and his peace, we all know that he, in every 
instance, succeeded in their defeat, and drove 
them humbled from the public view. In a re- 
cent instance, fresh in the memory of us all, he 
most successfully detected and exposed an ex- 
ecrable conspiracy against his character by 
some of the hungry expectants of his office; 
and in a most triumphant manner put the 
miscreants to silence and to shame. In ano- 
ther case, in which a gross and wanton attack 
was made upon his professional reputation, 
he evinced, that with all his constitutional 
amenity of temper, he was possessed of a spirit 
which was not with impunity to be roused. 
With a firmness which awed into submission the 
dastardly traducer of his character, he extorted 



( 35 ) 

from him a public recantation, and an honour- 
able, though reluctant, testimony to his integ- 
rity and his worth.* 

Time would fail me to speak of all the virtues 
of this estimable character; and to tell you of 
his filial affection, and of his excellence in the 
relations of a brother and a friend. O ! there 
was a tenderness in his friendship, which I have 
a thousand times experienced, but which I 
would in vain endeavour to describe. Hear the 
touching language of bereaved affection bear- 

• It is really painful to me to be under the necessity of adverting, 
even obscurely, to these unpleasant circumstances. Called upon as 
I was to illustrate the life and character of Dr. Dtckman, I should 
not have felt myself justified in passing 1 over these events had they 
even issued in his discomfiture and disgrace. Much less, then, 
would I have deserved the name of his friend, had I timidly sup- 
pressed circumstances so creditable to his memory, and so strongly 
illustrative of his character. I am aware that it may be said, that 
these unpleasant allusions did not comport with the solemnity of 
the occasion at which they were made. I grant that they should 
have been avoided, if possible ; but I can conceive of no occasion 
that can annul the great and paramount obligation of speaking the 
truth whenever it may be necessary. If I have unnecessarily reviv- 
ed the recollection of these unhappy occurrences, it has not been 
with any unkind feelings towards the surviving parties. For al- 
though I have always abhorred their conduct, and shall, I trust, 
never be afraid to express my disapprobation, I cherish towards 
them no personal animosity, and have no intention of doing to them 
the least injury. Severe as is the language I have used, (and I am 
willing to acknowledge that it might with propriety have been 
milder than it is,) the reader would, I am confident, excuse my 
warmth could he fully know the circumstances which occasioned it # 
I feel that I have fulfilled the utmost requisitions of a charitable 
forbearance, by suppressing their names, and thus preserving them 
from public execration. 



( 36 ) 

ing testimony to his worth: — " All who were 
acquainted with the deceased will delight to 
dwell on the amenity of his disposition, and the 
blameless tenor of his life. Remarkably free 
from the malignant passions, his heart was the 
seat of generous feelings, and was ever alive to 
the sensibilities of humanity. In every sphere 
in which he moved, his worth was confessed; 
and in every situation to which private confi- 
dence or public favour called him, his zeal and 
assiduity were incessant and unwearied. He 
has left behind him many connected by the 
endearments of friendship : none who can deny 
the benevolence of his heart, or the purity of 
his character."* 

Dr. Dyckman, in the days of his health, did 
not view religion as the great and important 
subject in which every man has a personal con- 
cern superior to every other interest. So far as 
a becoming respect for it was concerned, he 
was unexceptionable; and in the duties of mo- 
rality generally, I believe he was as sincere, 
as conscientious, and as irreproachable as any 
man can be without the sanctifying influence of 
religion. He never made any religious profes- 



* New- York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. i p. 523. To 
this editorial obituary notice of Dr. Dxckman, marked by a beauty 
of style, a loftiness of sentiment, and a tenderness of feeling", 
highly creditable to the work, I am indebted for several particu- 
lars in the life of our friend. 



( 37 ) 

sion, though he was often heard to express a 
partiality for the Episcopal Church. His fault 
on this great subject was, that he considered 
morality as the sum and substance of religion: 
and conscious of an irreproachable character 
on that s< ore, he rested contented here. But 
in his last days he obtained a truer view of the 
subject. He was enabled to discover that the 
high and holy law of God is the required stand- 
ard of morality, and not our own imperfect, 
and often erroneous, conceptions of duty. He 
discovered, that however amiable and correctly 
moral a man may be in the estimation of the 
world, the best actions of his life, and the no- 
blest efforts of his virtue, fall far short of that 
exalted standard; and that, so far from having 
any ground of boasting of his morality, or of 
depending; upon it as the means of his accept- 
ance with his Maker, the purest man has reason 
to be humbled at his imperfections, and to con- 
fess that his life has been far less pure than it 
ought to have been. I would not be under- 
stood as decrying or undervaluing morality 
without religion; even this unsanctified mo- 
rality is amiable in itself, and is productive of 
unquestionable benefit to society. But I con- 
tend that it does not, and cannot, from its very 
nature, claim the favour of God, or entitle its 
possessor to the rewards and happiness of a fu- 
ture state. The lamentable depravity of man 



( 38 ) 

even in his best estate, and the utter impossibi- 
lity of his conciliating the favour of God by any 
moral excellence of which he is capable, is a 
truth which. discovered itself to the philosophers 
of heathen antiquity, and which derives con- 
firmation from the religious practices of every 
people. It was this which gave rise to the sa- 
crifices of the Mosaic law, under which, in ty- 
pical anticipation of the great atonement which 
was in the fulness of time to be made for the 
world, the blood of bulls and of goats was shed 
for the expiation of sin. And sacrifices of some 
description or other have always been a part of 
religion, even among those whom the light of 
revelation has never reached. Accordingly we 
find them, under the consciousness of being ob- 
noxious to the judgments of the offended Deity, 
devising a thousand means of appeasing his ven- 
geance, and of propitiating his favour. We see 
the deluded subject of a sanguinary superstition, 
offering up in sacrifice the fruit of his body for 
the sin of his soul ; torturing himself with all the 
cruelties his ingenuity can devise, in satisfac- 
tion for his offences; and giving his very life as 
an expiation for its frailties. The shocking tri- 
umphs of the car of Juggernaut, the Moloch 
that now holds a bloody and execrable sway 
over the benighted regions of the East; the 
emaciated pilgrims who, in numberless multi- 
tudes, press to this worship of the powers of 



( » ) 

darkness; the austere and toilsome penance 
thev endure; the remorseless spirit of their hom- 
age; and the cruel rites which they perform to 
propitiate the obscene and odious monster 
which they worship; all proclaim the truth, that 
man cannot, by any moral efforts of his own, 
deserve the favour of his God. It has pleased 
God, however, to provide for man an efficient 
and prevailing sacrifice for sin; by which guilt 
may be removed, and an acceptable satisfac- 
tion offered for his imperfect obedience. I re- 
gret that 1 have not been able to obtain any 
particular information as to the experiences of 
Dr. Dyckman's mind on these great points, as 
they would, no doubt, have afforded matter for 
interesting and edifying reflection on this occa- 
sion. It must suffice to state, that he was en- 
abled to discern in the death and sacrifice of 
Christ, his Saviour, an appropriate and complete 
salvation; to enjoy, through him, that rapturous 
communion with God, which it is sometimes 
the privilege of the dying Christian to experi- 
ence as the foretaste and the pledge of that 
fuller glory upon which he is soon to enter; and 
to view the grave, not as the dreary bed of anni- 
hilation, or as the vestibule of the dungeons of 
eternal misery, but as the consecrated gate of the 
paradise of God, beyond which life and immor- 
tality appear, in ravishing perspective, to the eye 
of faith. After enjoying the assurance of for- 



£ ( 40 ) 

given sin, and triumphing in the faith of the 
Gospel of Christ, his spirit was summoned to 
the world of glory, to join, we trust, the an- 
thems of the blest, and to receive the inherit- 
ance of the redeemed of the Lord. Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and may my 
last end be like his. 



xhe esd. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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